


Blink and He'll Miss It

by l-ouresdeLuna (facemyJam)



Series: The Doctor Leaves [2]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23815912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facemyJam/pseuds/l-ouresdeLuna
Summary: Some memories the Doctor forgot along the way that he can't seem to look away from.Part Two of The Doctor Leaves
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Third Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: The Doctor Leaves [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/813909
Comments: 13
Kudos: 59





	Blink and He'll Miss It

**Author's Note:**

> Should I be posting this before finishing Don't Blink? Prolly not due to spoilers, but I figured that's what made this so fun to post before DB is done.

_ The Doctor enters his makeshift lab, shuffling out of his coat and trying not to be obvious about staring at Rose. The girl had scared him a great deal with her offering, but indeed the greater scare was the sudden desire to take her up on her offer. It came from nowhere and was such a fierce emotion of wanting that it nearly overwhelmed him. The look in her eyes, that steadfastness, as she held his gaze shook him as well. He’s never once sent people to past versions, so whatever this was about would be of great importance. _

_ Rose and Martha sit down on the only two available lab stools, and he doesn’t miss the glances they take of the TARDIS, one with longing and the other with suspicion. How odd. _

_ “So, tell me, what brings you here?” He asks rounding on them. _

_ They share a glance between each other. “A Weeping Angel,” Rose answers. It catches him off guard. _

_ “A what?” _

_ She raises an eyebrow and a slow smile curls onto her face. She is amused at his lack of knowledge. _

_ “An alien who can send you back in time with just a touch.” _

_ “Oh? And why would it do that?” _

_ “To feed off the potential everyone gives off, all the days you would have lived in the present are now theirs for the taking.” _

_ “Why would they do that for?” Yates asks and the Doctor had quite forgotten he was there. _

_ “Do what?” _

_ “Send you back? Why not kill you?” _

_ “Well, I’m not an expert,” Rose tells him with a shrug. “Could be they don’t like the mess?” _

_ “Could be blood squeamish,” Martha pipes up, sharing a small chuckle with Rose. _

_ “And that card?” The Doctor asks, cutting through their laughter. Something didn’t sit right about her, this Rose, like an itch under his skin. There was this echo in his mind, like blowback from his future self, but it was distorted through time and all he got from it was that this Rose was important somehow. _

_ “You tell us,” Martha challenges. “It was your own handwriting.” _

_ “And you think I know why?” He asks. What is with these two women? “So it was my handwriting! I haven’t had these hands for long and that makes you think I know all that they do?” _

_ A look of confusion spreads over Martha’s face, but Rose looks like she’s about to cry or something from the way her shoulders shake. And then she bursts out laughing. The echo in his mind grows, but it’s in whispers and all he can make out is the word ‘Fantastic’, overlapping with several other words he can’t quite distinguish. _

_ “‘M sorry, but your face! Those eyebrows!” Rose says between her laughter. “Tha’s great!” It takes her a minute more to compose herself and the Doctor has had quite enough of everything that has happened so far this day, from the Brigadier commanding he come down to his office to this girl Rose offering her hand to him and claiming to know him. _

_ “Now see here-” He starts to say, but then Martha joins Rose in laughing and he can’t get a word in at their volume. _

_ Yates, the traitor, looks as if he too were moments from laughing, when Rose wipes at her eyes and elbows Martha. _

_ “Reckon we should tell ‘im, yeah?” She asks her companion. _

_ “You think so?” Martha asks back, giving him a look over. _

_ “Might as well,” Rose says with a shrug. “‘S not like we can get anywhere without him.” _

_ “What we discovered?” Martha asks. _

_ Rose thinks on this and were it not for fear of them laughing at him again, he would snap at them to get to it. _

_ “So, Doctor, what do you know of Time Agents?” Rose asks a moment later. _

_ “Those pompous, self-serving, idiots?” He asks and Rose nods. _

_ “So you’ve heard of us then?” _

_ “You? A Time Agent?” _

_ “Is that so surprising?” Her eyebrow is raised again. _

_ “Only in that you say we are acquainted with one another.” _

_ “Oh, supposing you don’t mingle with us pompous, self-serving, idiots?” _

_ “As a matter of fact, I do not,” he tells her, frustrated with her amusement. _

_ “Obviously not if we know of you in the future,” Martha interjects. _

_ “An error of judgement on my part,” He assures them. Martha gives him a strong glare before turning to Rose. _

_ “Perhaps we should leave,” she tells Rose. _

_ Rose wipes at her eyes once more before smiling sadly at her companion. _

_ “It’ll be okay, Martha.” The echoes in his head grow louder for an instant, until he sees Rose smiling once more. The blasted blowback from his future self was getting on his nerves. _

_ “Tell me what?” He asks, to get them back on track. _

_ Rose pulls out a purple file folder. “We were told if we ever got stuck in this time to open this folder and follow what was in it. That’s where the card with your handwriting came from.” _

_ He goes to take the folder from her, only to have her yank it back. “Can you promise what we read on here is not permanent?” _

_ \-- _

_ The whispering was back, the blowback from his future self tingling up and down his spine at her close proximity. It was getting quite annoying, especially when she smiled or laughed or brushed up against him reaching for something. The urge to grab her hand, to feel her mind, to make her laugh was unlike anything he had ever felt and it was driving him mad trying to refrain from giving in to instincts that were not yet his. _

_ “Don’t connect those two unless you want to boil eggs at twenty paces,” Rose tells him, hand reaching out to stop him from his work. He looks over the connection and scowls at his sloppiness. Her being near him was distracting him. _

_ “Thirty paces, actually,” he corrects, his eyebrows drawn together quite impressively. _

_ “Oh? Wasn’t aware you upped the voltage on that car battery.” He can tell she’s looking over the wires, checking to see just when he did that and he’s impressed despite himself. _

_ “That’s what the scrompter was for,” he informs her. She gives him a tongue touched grin, clearly not believing him. _

_ “Thought that was so you could test Martha,” she says casually, not showing if she were upset or not. _

_ “Test?” _

_ “Y’know, on account of you not trusting us.” Still as even as her last statement. She leans in, close enough that the whispers at the back of his mind still, as if holding their breath, waiting to see what would happen. “But it don’t matter if you can’t trust us yet, Doctor. I’ll trust you no matter what.” Her gaze lingers on his, as if memorizing him, as if looking into his very soul, before she turns and goes over to her companion. _

_ He pretends to do some work as he thinks over her words. What does he do in the future to have her trust in him like that? What does she do in the future to have his future self feel so strongly? And does he truly want to know? _

_ “Doctor,” Lethbridge-Stewert calls out as he enters. “We’ve got a call.” _

_ “I’m busy,” he tells the man. _

_ “Doctor,” the Brigadier sighs out. _

_ “What’s up?” Rose asks as she comes over. _

_ “UNIT is being called to a scene,” the Brigadier tells her, though the Doctor can tell he would rather not say anything to her. _

_ “Alright then.” Rose starts to pack up, but the Doctor stops her. _

_ “What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” _

_ “Doctor, something has happened,” Rose explains as if he were a Loomling. “Maybe someone else got sent back in time or something. Shouldn’t we go see?” He frowns at her logic. _

_ “Fine,” He snaps out. He grabs up the spatial-temporal detector, grateful he had finished it already. She smiles widely at him and he nearly gets a headache from the sudden uptick in the whispers from the back of his mind. _

_ “You know you’re curious, too,” she points out. He just deepens his scowl which does nothing to her except make her smile grow wider. _

_ “Let’s get this over with,” he mutters to himself, talking of more than just wherever they were being called to. _

\--

_ They trudged through the swamp, Martha complaining every time her foot got stuck, but he blocked it out as best he could. There was something about the composition of the mud that was familiar but he couldn’t place it, most likely due to Martha’s constant jabbering. _

_ “Would you quiet down?” He asks her. “Please,” he adds at the glare from both Martha and Rose. _

_ “Here, Martha,” Rose says, offering her hand. Despite being shorter than both himself and Martha, Rose had yet to get stuck once. “I’ll pull you towards me.” _

_ “Oh, do hurry,” he urges them. The faster they could get to the centre of the swamp, the faster he could get back to his lab to finish working on his spatial-temporal device. _

_ “Doctor,” Rose scolds him, but he brushes past it. Brushes past the blowback whispering at him to be more gentle, less ‘rude and not ginger’, whatever that meant. “Maybe if you tell us  _ **_why_ ** _ getting to the centre is important,” she suggests. _

_ “I don’t know yet,” he tells her. “Something about the mud is familiar, though.” _

_ “The mud?” She looks down at it, not a far look for her as it’s waist deep for him, but more like mid-chest for her. She gathers some in her hands and looks at it, perhaps trying to find out why this mud was familiar to him. _

_ “Why can’t we use the trees again?” Martha pants out. _

_ “Because,” he tells her. It should be obvious, if only he could remember why. _

_ Martha flings some mud in his direction, which he deftly doges.  _

_ “Martha,” Rose chides. “Let’s just pretend the Doctor knows what he’s talking about for now, yeah?” _

_ “Oi!” _

_ Rose laughter rings out loud and clear, the whispers in the back of his mind stirring up to near distraction. _

_ “Better watch it, Martha. Him and his  _ **_superior biology_ ** _ make him an excellent shot.” Despite her saying that, Rose also throws some mud, but thankfully she aims at her own friend instead of him. _

_ “Traitor!” Martha shrieks and he rather feels as if he’s in charge of five year olds. _

_ “If you’re quite done,” the Doctor sighs out. _

_ “Oh, lighten up Mister Superior Biology,” Rose teases. “You see that tree there?” She points to a tree that’s sticking up above the rest of the foliage. “We’re near the centre.” _

_ The Doctor looks over the tree and realises why the mud was familiar. _

_ “Ah, I believe it is around the time for their mating cycle,” he reasons. _

_ “Excuse me!?” Martha shouts. _

_ “Not so loud, Miss Jones. The babies are asleep.” _

_ “This is a nursery?” Rose asks. _

_ “Gilpens,” the Doctor muses aloud. “No, Glickens. Glickens from the Roonhilden Configuration. They’re a long way home.” _

_ “They musta been looking for somewhere safe to branch,” Rose concludes. “Is that why you didn’t want us walking on the roots?” _

_ “Yes, well, they’re still developing. Wouldn’t do to stunt their growth.” _

_ “It’s also best not to piss off new mothers, either,” Rose imparts. “Is this mud important?” _

_ “Oh, god! Please tell me I’m not waist deep in alien-” Martha looks around at the mud,  _ **_“Lovemaking.”_ **

_ “Something ran over my foot!” Rose calls out, bouncing in the mud. _

_ “Stay right where you are!” The Doctor calls out. “That might be the mother determining if we’re going to harm her and her children.” _

_ “How do we let her know we don’t want to hurt them?” Martha asks. _

_ “‘We come in peace’ usually does the trick,” Rose says. He nearly chuckles, but composes himself just in time. _

_ “Nonsense, The Glickens are very open to any form of communication. Just simply express your intent and they will understand.” _

_ “Is he serious?” Martha asks, Rose snorting into her muddied hands. “And no one has said what exactly this mud is!” _

_ “It’s Roonhilden mud,” the Doctor tells her to get her to quiet down. “Glickens need it to sprout and feed.” _

_ “Uh, think they mind us standing in their food?” Rose asks. “Sorry, didn’t know when we started.” _

_ A tree root comes out of the mud next to Rose and touches her on the shoulder. _

_ “Rose, I wouldn’t move if I were you,” He warns her. “I believe the Glickens Mother wants to communicate with you.” Which was odd as they could only be so open with others as they were a telepathic species who sought out like-minded beings. He, himself, was one such being capable of telepathic communication and yet the Glickens Mother chose Rose. How very curious. _

_ “Oh, hello there. Uhm, sorry to intrude into your nursery,” Rose says hesitantly. _

_ “Yeah, very sorry,” Martha adds. _

_ “Hello there, I’m the Doctor. I was wondering if you could take your nursery to perhaps another planet,” The Doctor says, trying to take control of the situation. He feels a root wrap rather viciously around his left leg and feels the Glickens Mother shouting at him over the telepathic connection. He hears Rose’s laughter cut through the yelling and wonders at what she could possibly be laughing at right now. _

_ “She’s got you pegged, Doctor,” Rose says and he makes the connection that she can hear the Glickens Mother’s communication. _

_ “Well, it wasn’t as if I was being rude,” he defends himself. _

_ “Nah, as far as asking aliens to leave Earth, I’d say that was the most polite I’d ever heard you be,” Rose concedes and he’s just about to thank her when she speaks again. “Although it’s quite rude to ask a mother who’s just given birth to up and leave. Let her breathe first, Doctor. She says it’ll only take another Earth hour before her children are well enough to travel.” _

_ “Am I missing something here?” Martha asks. The Doctor notes she doesn’t seem to have a Glickens Mother root attached to her person and wonders at that. _

_ “Humans and their primitive ape brains,” he complains, not wanting to get into the specifics of the Glickens telepathy just right now. Not while the Glickens Mother is still yelling quite loudly in his mind. “Yes, yes, I understand. You require additional time to make certain your offspring are well enough for the cold vacuum of space,” he tells the root. _

_ “Did he just call me an ape?” Martha asks, though he’s got bigger concerns at the moment. _

_ “He insults species when he’s upset,” Rose explains. “He didn’t mean anything by it, I don’t think.” She pats the root on her shoulder. “We’ll tell the people around us you just need an hour to be on your way.” _

_ The root around his leg leaves just as harshly as it came, but he takes it they’re free to leave. _

_ “We’re talking about that ape comment, mister,” Martha warns him, but he waves it off. _

_ “Brigadier, it’ll just be under an hour before the swamp leaves,” he reports into the walkie-talkie given to him by the Brigadier when the Doctor suggested entering the swamp. _

**_“Already, Doctor? You on your way back?”_ **

_ “Yes, we’ll be back shortly.” _

**_“We’ll wait for your return, then.”_ **

_ “So, apes?” Martha asks as she practically marches her way through the mud towards him. _

_ “Yes, well, if the evolution fits,” he tells her, not seeing the offense. Many other species have evolved from ape like mammals on other planets as well. _

_ “What’s my brain got to do with being an ape, though?” _

_ “The Glickens are receptive to any form of communication because they are a telepathic species. However, just because they can understand you, doesn’t mean you will be able to understand them. Most humans don’t evolve enough brain power to converse with a being like the Glickens, simple matter of fact.” He shrugs as it’s just a simple matter of biology _

_ “So the tree was talking to you and Rose? But, if Rose could understand it, why couldn’t I?” _

_ “Well, humans from the 51st Century have been spreading out amongst the stars and spreading their DNA just as fast. Perhaps somewhere in her gene structure an ancestor had relations with an alien with telepathic abilities. She’s probably a low level telepath,” The Doctor surmises. _

_ “Yeah, my great Aunt Mo was telepathic on her mother's side,” Rose says, though her tone suggests a joking manner. _

_ “Could be,” he tells her. _

_ “This whole ape thing won’t be dropped, Mister,” Martha warns him. _

_ “Oh, I’ve explained it already, it should be quite simple to understand.” _

_ “I’m not talking about the explanation, I’m talking about the insult. Humans may seem primitive to you, but that doesn’t mean you get to look down on us.” _

_ “Why shouldn’t I?” _

_ “Well if we descended from apes, what about your species? You look human enough, if you get past the ego.” _

_ “No, no, no, my dear. You humans look Time Lord.” _

_ “Time Lord! How pretentious! What, you lot claimed to be Lord of all of Time and think that means your so superior to anyone else?” _

_ “But of course we are!” _

_ “I can’t believe this.” She looks over to Rose, most likely for help, but Rose seems more amused by them than anything else. “Rose?” _

_ “Oh look, we’ve reached the Brigadier,” Rose says, pointing to where the man was waiting near a UNIT vehicle. _

_ “Oh, so you’re just gonna take his side in this?” _

_ “Of course not,” Rose says with a snort. “The Doctor is many things, but he’s had his own head up his arse about how superior he is from day one. You can’t argue with him on that, I’ve tried. It just made me want to punch him, and look at that face. It’s pretty punchable, don’t you think?” _

_ “I beg your pardon?” He asks, affronted at the thought of his face looking anything but striking and handsome. _

_ “Then beg, Doctor, but you can’t deny that your ‘mightier than thou’ attitude doesn’t rub most people you meet wrong.” _

_ “Well, I’m sure I can be a bit abrasive sometimes-” _

_ “Ha! Pull the other one!” Martha interrupts, climbing into the jeep. “Can we get out of here, now?” _

_ “Certainly,” the Brigadier says, mustache twitching from held in laughter. “I’ve called for a unit to be sent to make sure the swamp leaves in the time you’ve said it will, but we can leave before they arrive. They know what to do.” _

_ “Coming Doctor?” Rose asks, giving him a tongue touched grin that does things to his hearts and the voices in his head. _

_ He can’t think of anything to say to that, so he settles for harrumphing and climbs into the jeep as well. He had a theory about why the voices were so strong and it wasn’t taking long to confirm it. This Rose woman was- well, she was hard to describe, and hard to get a read on. His future selves certainly thought well enough about her to allow for the blowback to happen. He just wasn’t sure about what to do with these feelings. He hasn’t met her yet, hasn’t had a chance to form his own opinions of her without his future whispering in his ear. _

_ The most he knew was that she was calm in a crisis, knew enough about electrical engineering to understand what he was doing to build the spatial-temporal device, and that she was slightly telepathic on her great Aunt Mo’s mother’s side. Plus, there was this energy about her. She seemed ready for anything, seemed ready to believe in aliens, and she seemed to have gotten to know him quite well for her to pick up on his habit to insult species when he was stressed. _

_ “So back to that Time Lord thing,” Martha says, interrupting his thought process. _

\--

He woke up crying. She had grown so much, and so beautifully. His hearts yearned to have known her then, in his younger body, so he could’ve said the words that needed saying. Oh, to see her so sad, so hopeful, so trusting in him- he didn’t deserve it. And even back then, all those centuries before he would ever hold her hand, he had wished she would stay. He would never not want her to stay with him, selfish as he was.

And she had companions! She was making a go of it, like he did. She was travelling and touching the stars and running towards adventure. 

Which brought him back to his crying. He was missing it. He was missing what she was becoming, what she was changing in to. How wonderfully she was adapting, growing, learning, shaping herself to be.

He threw the covers from his body and stood. He couldn’t very well stay still after knowing she was waiting for him. Who knows all what he would miss if he keeps wasting time. She could be a whole different person by the time he gets back to her.

He pauses on the steps down.

Would she even want him? After all the time they’ve been apart, would she still want to hold his hand? What if he gets back too late and she’s changed so much that she no longer needs him?

Does she even really need him now? Now that she can work the TARDIS and go wherever her heart desires?

_ “I’ll be waiting for you.” _

He remembers the words she whispered against his temple, the gentle brush of her lips grazing his skin. They felt like a brand fire back then, and an echo of the touch raises goose-flesh along his arms.

His hearts calm down as he sits on the stairs. There’s not much he could do tonight, he has no further ideas bouncing around his head as to how to get back. Everything he’s calculated has ended with Universal collapsation. Burying his head in his hands, he thinks over the forgotten memory. Lingering over every said word, every shared look, every small laugh or smile she gave to him back then.

She had looked so heartbroken when she first saw his younger self, and he could tell now that it was because of the Time War. She had somehow known he hadn’t been through it yet, could tell that he was still a youngling Time Lord scared and hurt and angry, but not yet tired and destructive and bloodthirsty.

“Doctor?” Jackie’s quiet voice broke through his self deprecation. “What’s wrong?”

He chuckles at that. Like mother like daughter, despite Jackie not liking him for leaving Rose in a different dimension.

“I- I had a dream about her,” he tells her. She deserves the truth.

Jackie huffs out a sigh and walks down the stairs to sit next to him, slowly easing herself down.

“What’d she do now?” She asks and he chuckles again.

“It was more like lost memories. She got stuck in the past and ran into another version of myself.”

“How d’you mean? You mean you saw her? You saw Rose?”

“Time Lords don’t always meet people in the right order, so we’ve developed this technique to suppress certain memories until the right time.”

“What’s this got to do with Rose?” Jackie interrupts, impatient to learn more about where Rose is.

“She ran into a past version of myself,” the Doctor tells her.

“She what? How’d she do that then?”

“They ran into these aliens that can send you into the past with a single touch and she wound up seeing me when I was stranded there.” He smiles widely as he thinks back over the memories.

“What’re you smiling for? She’s stuck in the past, you nitwit!”

“What? No, no, no. They got the TARDIS back, don’t worry.”

“What do you mean ‘they’? Who’s she with?”

“She’s travelling again, Jackie,” he tells her with a smile. “She found a friend and they’re travelling together.”

“What’s this one look like, then? He human, too?”

“ _ She _ is human,” the Doctor corrects. “ _ Well _ , as much as I can be certain for not having met her yet. Not really, anyway.” He shrugs. They’re story about being Time Agents was most certainly false, but that didn’t mean this Martha didn’t come from another humanoid planet or was really from the 51st Century.

“What’s she doing that for, then? She’s supposed to be waiting,” Jackie complains. “Mind you, she was always impatient, that one. Never could sit still in class, always got her report cards sent home with the same note over and over. Used to drive me mad when she was younger.”

The Doctor grins. “She  _ is _ waiting,” he tells her, wanting to defend Rose, but loving all the gossip he’s getting on her. “Sort of. Told me so herself. She’s waiting for us to get back to her.”

“More like waiting for you,” Jackie says with a scoff, hitting dead on the mark. “She’s probably forgotten all about her poor mother. And who could blame her? Big as I am.” She rubs her belly. “Look like a balloon, I do.”

“Nonsense, you’re just Jackie but pregnant.” The Doctor’s had this conversation with her enough times to know  _ not _ to agree with any statements she makes about herself, even if they’re true. She just scowls at him, no doubt upset she doesn’t have a reason to slap him.

“Help me up, would ya? Stairs are no proper sitting place for a pregnant woman.”

He goes one step down from her and offers his hands to her, pulling her to her feet and making sure she was steady before letting go. She just turns and goes back up to her room, and he follows her to go to his.

“Doctor?” Jackie stops him just before entering her room.

“Yes, Jackie?”

“She was fine, right?” Her voice breaks despite being spoken softly. “Rose was okay?”

“Oh, yes. Healthy and bright and living.” He could still picture her smug tongue touched grin as they were putting together the spatial-temporal device.

He hears Jackie sniffle. “Get us back to her, yeah?”

“I will, Jackie. I promise.” She nods, more to the door than at him, before going to join Pete back in bed. “I will,” he whispers again, hands clenched tightly into fists.

\--

_ “Now that they’ve gone Doctor, and before you forget, I want to talk to you about your new assistant,” the Brigadier says as the Doctor watches the TARDIS dematerialise. It was an odd thing to watch his ship leave without him, but even odder still to have the voices in his head sigh in relief as Rose kissed him. _

_ “Hmm? What’s this, Brigadier?” The Doctor asks. _

_ “Your assistant, Doctor,” the Brigadier repeats. “I’ve found a suitable replacement.” _

_ “Oh, good. Tell me, what are their qualifications?” _

_ “Actually, after seeing how you worked with Rose, I think I’ve found just the right person for the job.” _

_ “What? What does Rose have to do with anything? Brigadier, what I need is a like minded assistant, someone suited to the sciences, like Miss Shaw.” _

_ “Trust me, Doctor,” the Brigadier says, mustache twitching as he smiles, no doubt amused at his expense. _

_ “Why should I when you’ve not done as I’ve asked?” He almost crosses his arms, but dismisses that urge and goes to fiddle with the experiment he was carrying out before Rose and Martha had arrived. _

_ The Brigadier sighs. “For god’s sake, man. Just take the assistant.” The Doctor scoffs at the thought. _

_ “I’ll need to vet them, first,” he tells the Brigadier. “No, actually. I need to tuck this memory away first.” _

_ “I’ll send her round as soon as she fills out the paperwork to introduce herself,” the Brigadier says, but it’s faint as the Doctor concentrates on when the memory should pop up again. _

_ He opens his eyes and sees his experiment before him and laughs in glee. Now that he’s alone, he can finally work! He goes to his TARDIS, humming as he walks. _

_ “I don’t want to set the world on fire!” He sings out as he finds the dematerialisation mechanism. He had just placed it on it’s stand when there’s a knock on the door. _

_ “Not today, thank you,” he tells the tea lady absentmindedly. _

_ “Doctor, I, er-” _

_ “I said not today, thank you.” He switches the unit on, only to have it pop a circuit and smoke. “Oh, no.” He frowns at it, wondering what was wrong. The woman who entered puts out the smoke with the fire extinguisher.  _ **_“Oh, no!”_ **

_ “It’s all right,” she tells him, no doubt having no idea what she’s done. “I’ve dealt with it.” _

_ “Dealt with it! You’ve ruined it!” _

_ “But your bench was on fire,” she says, as if that was a good enough reason to ruin his work. _

_ “Three months delicate work and now look at it, you ham-fisted bungler.” He stares dejectedly at the now foamed dematerialisation mechanism. _

_ “But this whole place might have gone up in flames,” she tries to defend, but he scoffs. _

_ “My dear young lady, steady state micro-welding always creates more smoke than fire.” It should’ve been obvious, really. _

_ “Steady state micro-welding?” _

_ “Yes. An advanced engineering technique pioneered by the Lammerdenes. A remarkably gifted race. They have nine opposable digits.” _

_ “Nine what?” _

_ “Nine opposable digits.” He registers her blank face. “Yes, well, never mind. Look, I said I didn’t want tea today, thank you.” _

_ “I’m not the tea lady,” she tells him and he gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. _

_ “Then what the blazes are you doing here?” _

_ “I’ve-” _

_ “Don’t you know this area is strictly out of bounds to everybody except the tea lady and the Brigadier’s personal staff?” He talks over her to stop her from confirming his theory. _

_ “I’m your new assistant,” she tells him anyway. _

_ “Oh, no.” He knew it. Bugger all. _

_ “The Brigadier sent me along to introduce myself, Doctor. Josephine Grant.” She holds out her hand, but he ignores it. _

_ “How do you do, Miss Grant. I really don’t think you’re suitable.” _

**Author's Note:**

> So basically this all happens in one day for both 3 and Rose and Martha. And then 3 meets Jo, who is just spectacular! Loved her! I felt like 3 was driving the Brigadier mad with his request for a qualified assistant, so when Rose came into UNIT, he found the solution to Jo using her high up connections to use her as 3's assistant. Especially after seeing what a non-scientific assistant was like with 3. Hoped you liked it! I wasn't originally gonna add that swamp scene, but then I thought I might as well, for drama!


End file.
